8 comments:

I've only read two of your posts about 50 Shades, but based on the themes you're looking out for in Buffy, I can tell that I'm going to enjoy these posts too.

I watched Buffy all the way through this year for the first time (after studying it for part of a college class and seeing some episodes here and there). I think you've hit the nail on the head when it comes to your list.

First, I love the kind of smart criticism we lady folks get up to on this blog. Second, Jenny, this will probably annoy you. :) But I'm gonna tell you why I think "When She Was Bad" is one of the most feminist episodes of Buffy.

Feminism doesn't mean strength--it means equality with men. We never ask if male characters are strong. We never expect that they live up to some hypothetical label in order to be judged valuable, as we do with female characters. We don't ask that they be part of an agenda. We ask only that they be real, complex, interesting and well-written.

Buffy is at her most real in that episode--she's a teenager and a brat, smart-mouthed and in pain, and she's never more complex and contradictory than she is in that episode. She's not working for an agenda. She's written to the standards that we would hold male characters to, and that's feminism in my mind.

In case you're interested in hearing this argument from someone who is much better at summarizing it than I am, try Sophia McDougall's article (She references Buffy!): http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/08/i-hate-strong-female-characters

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I love that my readers want to buy my books out of support/curiosity. Any books I have written will be under Jennifer Armintrout/Abigail Barnette/Jenny Trout. I have no other pen names, and books without those names on them were not written by me, even if the spelling is really, really close.

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This is the official blog of Jenny Trout, writer, swearer, and all around obscene person. Under the name Jennifer Armintrout, I wrote USA Today Bestselling fantasy/urban fantasy/paranormal romance. Under the pseudonym Abigail Barnette, I write award-winning romance and erotic romance, both historical and contemporary.

What you can expect to find here in 2013:

Chapter-by-chapter recaps of 50 Shades Freed

Updates on my free online erotic romance serial, The Boss

An in-depth re-watch of the entire series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The occasional post about cake

Lots of swearing

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